Happy Nice Mall

Two days after the remnants of Hurricane Ida brought a sudden and violent storm to the Mid-Atlantic region, residents faced a downpour on Friday that killed at least 43 people in four states and illustrated with frightening clarity the threat posed by a shifting climate change. climate.

In New Jersey, where at least 23 people died, many residents were stranded in their cars in rapidly rising floodwaters and drowned without being able to find an escape route. At least 15 people died in New York City, 13 people died in New York, many sank into ground-level apartments they may have sought because of their affordable prices.

In Connecticut, a 26-year veteran of the state police has died when his car was swept away by floodwaters. And in Pennsylvania, at least four people died in counties near the swollen Delaware River.

Destruction was commonplace in southern New Jersey, from a row of homes razed by a hurricane reaching maximum wind speeds of 150 miles per hour to flooded cars. Sprain Brook Parkway in Yonkers.

The damage was even more troubling given that it came with relatively little warning from political leaders already battling an ongoing epidemic. killing thousands of Americans every week.

These leaders President Biden Until New York’s Democratic mayoral candidate, Eric Adamsexpressed a similar sentiment in their response to the storm: Climate change is here.

In a speech from the White House, Mr. Biden described the storm as “devastating” before returning to discussion of other natural disasters affecting the United States, including wildfires in the West and damage from Hurricane Ida in the South.

“This destruction is everywhere,” he said. “This is a matter of life and death, and we are all in this together. This is one of the greatest challenges of our time.”

New York Governor Kathy C. Hochul, who took office a little over a week before the storm, delivered a similar message.

“This is not a future threat,” he said about climate change. “A current threat.”

And Mr Adams, who is likely to be New York City’s next mayor, has confused his acceptance of the threat of the climate crisis with a sentiment shared by many New Yorkers days after the rain stopped.

“I’ve never witnessed anything like this,” he said.